What does the name Serengeti National Park bring to your mind? Endless plains teeming with animals, a sky that seems so much bigger than at home, the chance to get up close to the Big 5? This was in our minds as we passed through the gates of the Ngorgoro Conservaton Area, and then into Serengeti National Park. We had spent the morning driving from Lake Eyasi to Oldupai Gorge, site of the discovery of early human remains. It was both educational and slightly interesting. The one thing that stands out from the drive from Lake Eyasi to the gates of [View Full Entry]

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Who is this little one standing at the door? Have you ever had a bad day, but there was one little face that made you smile! Have you ever known of someone who had been delt a hard life, but through it all continued to show God's love and grace in everything they did? Have you ever just felt like Life wasn't fair? Have you ever wanted to help someone, so bad, but there just wasn't much you could do? Life is a daily challenge here in Tanzania. Life is filled with harsh circumstances, and here in Africa we encounter trials [View Full Entry]

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Lake Eyasi is one of a series of salt lakes near the Ngorogoro highlands. The plan was to camp near the lake and visit the Hadzabe tribe, a group of people culturally similar to the San Bushman. Our drive took us through some rough roads, which had James wishing (for the twentieth time) that he had brought his mountain bike. The campsite was fairly basic, but instead of bugs flying onto our plates, we had monkeys jumping onto our tent. Once again, camp was set up, we had lunch, then we set off to locate the Hadzabe. Our guide/translator was from [View Full Entry]

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Safari time! We flew from Zanzibar to Arusha (the plane was only two hours late), then transferred to Masai Camp, a campsite and safari company. We were booked on a 6 day safari with Tropical Trails which would take us to some of Tanzania's world famous national parks. Early Tuesday morning, we loaded our gear into a Land Cruiser and along with our guide, Stephen, and cook, Kasim, set off for Tarangire National Park. En route we stopped for a morning tea of fried green bananas and goats intestines. No kidding. Kind of tasted like pork crackling, but that could have [View Full Entry]

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It's here so very early! The house is busy with boxes! We were expecting not to receive the container until December! and the Hedgehog, well that's one I never expected! Well November is already half way through and the time is just flying by. It hardly seems possible that we have already been here for 2 months. With thanksgiving just around the corner and the holidays fast approaching I know everyone back home must be busy about getting things prepared for family and friends and all the get togethers we tend to have this time of year! We are planning [View Full Entry]

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As easy as the words came to describe what we were going through when we were preparing to make this trip, I am finding it difficult to find the right ones to fill you in on what life has been like since we have arrived. Not the general life itself, as that is all coming along smoothly; but the real life that is going on here in Africa. A plethora of emotions transcends words. The look on a face can say more than the right string of letters in the right combination, put together with punctuation marks. What can you say [View Full Entry]

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We've all been laughing at the kids comments and quotes as we are watching them experience a different culture and way of life here in Africa! Garrett's infamous daily quote is: "Well, you don't see that everyday!" but the funny thing is, he says it every day! You're always seeing something new when you drive down the streets here in Arusha. Something, that catches your eye, makes you go "hhhhhmmmmm" , somthings make you laugh and some things make you cry. There are times when your patience is tried and there are time when you learn what life is really all [View Full Entry]

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Love the little children! The end of a long exciting month is finally upon us! With it being Halloween today the missionary kids decided to dress up in costumes for last night's devotional over at The Smelser's house. Dr. Danny & Nancy have been such a blessing to have around. This is their last week in country here with us, please be praying for them as they return home this coming Sunday- Monday! The Kids were all just precious and had a great time parading through the living room sharing with all the adults just who, or what they were supposed [View Full Entry]

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Arusha had it's Ladies Seminar, We had one man baptized through the House to Housestudies that the men were doing, Brent drove to Kenya to sign papers for the container, and the kids and I went to our first ever Rugby game What a day! The ladies seminar went great! We had about 42 ladies there, studying about women's roles in the church, and it was wonderful! Desdery (one of our local evangelissts) and Stephanie did a great job of setting it all up. Then Desdery, Stephanie, Neema, Shasta, Grace, and myself all taught different lessons throughout the day covering [View Full Entry]

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We've been taking picture of all the beautiful flowers we've seen since we have been here and I thought I would share a few of them with you! We have internet connected here at the house now so we're back online and would love hearing from all of you! We had our first group Bible study here at the house tonight with all the missionary families... there were 20 of us total here, with no visitors... amazing! Its nice to have such a great team of missionaries here working together side by side and having the fellowship with each other. We [View Full Entry]

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